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27 February 2015

Yesterday, King Felipe and Queen Letizia went on one of their annual engagements, the opening of the ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid. Letizia debuted a new Felipe Varela dress, a tri-color design with Swarovski crystal accents.

So, like a sedate Mondrian, I can get behind that for an art event. But - and here comes something you won't usually hear me say - maybe we lose the crystals? Only because I'm wondering if the kids got a BeDazzler for Christmas or what.

And since we're in a Letizia mood, here she is in meeting mode earlier in the week:

I like a lady that can make a leather dress look businesslike. This sheath is from BOSS Hugo Boss, and the blazer is also Hugo Boss.

In another style twin coincidence for the week, Leti's love for Hugo Boss crossed paths with Crown Princess Mary's love for the same brand, and they both sported leather dresses. (Okay, less like style twins and more like...style cousins. Second cousins, twice removed.)

Yesterday, Mary was out and about in BOSS Hugo Boss dress with a leather bodice and twill skirt with a partial check pattern. The frock comes from Jason Wu's first collection for the label (Fall 2014 RTW), which featured several other plays on these mixed materials and pattern. Mary added a shirt underneath, which actually fits right in with the rest of the collection. I love the skirt portion, but I could do without the leather on this one. It's a little too armour-esque, no?

26 February 2015

So many of the sapphire tiaras we know today are fairly symmetrical, even architectural, in their design, so an asymmetrical floral option makes for a refreshing change of pace. Joining other sapphire floral tiaras such as the Ogilvy Tiara, the Barberini Sapphire Tiara features a flowering wreath design. A rose-cut diamond branch is the base for old-cut diamond flowers with an oval collet sapphire at the center of each, and more sapphires are scattered along the branch. The stones are mounted in silver and gold, and the tiara dates from around 1850.

Other pieces in the set

The tiara is part of a parure that includes a necklace, brooch, and girandole earrings. The accompanying pieces are also notable for their commitment to the floral theme, when many parures might opt for a simpler design for the rest of the set. These were among the jewels that belonged to the Barberini family, an old Italian noble family that counts a pope among its ancestors (Pope Urban VIII) and who gave their name to the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, today the location of the National Gallery of Ancient Art.

These particular pieces are known to us via their history of auctions, rather than their former owners. The jewels were first sold by Christie’s as a parure in 1971 for $18,850. They were sold again, this time as four separate pieces, in 2009, and brought in close to $250,000 all together ($100,144 for the tiara alone). Floral tiaras are not my favorite overall, but this one does have a charm that makes me wish I’d had the checkbook power to scoop these up.

An injured knee (apparently suffered during the family's recent ski vacation) can't keep Queen Mathilde down, and it certainly can't keep her from playing the Natan style twin game. She's giving us flashbacks to Máxima's ensemble from last week, and I think she's coming out on top, because 1) she's restricted her orange accessories to a small pair of earrings, and 2) those are some kicky little flats. I'm not usually a fan of her footwear, but in accommodating her injury, she's managed to up her game.

Since we're hanging out with Mathilde, here's an audience she held earlier in the week (before things got tricky with her knee, I guess):

25 February 2015

My Twitter feed reminded me that yesterday was the anniversary of one special event: the engagement of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling on February 24, 2009! The couple met in 2001 when Victoria was a personal training client of
Daniel's at the gyms he owned in Stockholm, and by 2002 their
relationship was known to the Swedish press. They tied the knot in June 2010. This was a long engagement, by royal standards, leaving plenty of time for Daniel to recover from the kidney transplant he underwent shortly after the engagement.

Anyway, this means we should talk about the engagement day outfit, no? (Hers, that is. Daniel wore a suit.) Victoria's dress for their meeting with the press has always held a special place in my heart. Because purple, that's why.

As it turns out, the dress was actually quite a tip off to what her wedding dress would ultimately look like.
The open neckline and the wide waistband would both feature prominently
in her wedding gown, and the purple dress was made by Pär Engsheden,
which ended up being an early hint at the wedding gown designer. No surprise I enjoyed her selection, then, since the wedding dress (and the wedding itself) are personal favorites.

I was slightly less excited to see Princess Marie-Chantal's gown, sadly. Listen, I consider myself a fan of her style; even when I don't like the exact pieces she selects, there's an easy elegance to her styling that I admire - she manages to make interesting choices without looking like she's playing dress up. But this Alexander McQueen dress seems doomed from the start. I'm not sure any amount of tailoring can make this satin behave when it clearly wants to make all kinds of folds and puckers at the slightest sign of movement or curve. But I still like the softness of the color palette and the floral design.

As shown in the Alexander McQueen Pre-Fall 2014 collection, far left; and in the retail version, full-length in ivory satin with floral embroidery in nude and silver.

Another part of the reason I like following Marie-Chantal's looks was well on display in spite of all that: her jewels. She has a collection of unusual pieces and she doesn't make them wait for a vanilla outfit to go on parade. These earrings, which I believe are from JAR, one of her favorites, are a great touch to bring out the pink tones in the dress. Yet another piece for me to covet...

23 February 2015

It's Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear runway time, so let's waste away our Monday looking at some pretty things and dreaming up a wish list for royal fashion to come. As always, click the designer names to be taken to the full collection...

From pastels to orange tartans and back, there are a few things here that we could see pop up in one form or another on the Duchess of Cambridge or the Countess of Wessex. Probably not the black PVC numbers, but one never knows.

I'm sad to say the first Oscar de la Renta collection without the master himself didn't flip my skirt like it usually does. (Sidebar: I did like the dress from this collection which appeared on Sienna Miller at last night's Oscars, though.) (Sidebar to the sidebar: Was fairly underwhelmed by Oscars fashion on the whole this year. Anyone else? Just...less than memorable. Meh.)

--The first part of the BBC documentary Reinventing the Royals, which was slightly postponed after apparent legal intervention from the royals, is available for viewing at the BBC site (geo-restricted) or on YouTube. [Radio Times, BBC Live Player, YouTube]

--Heads up, America: Chaz and Cams are on their way! The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will visit Washington, D.C. and Louisville, Kentucky from March 17th-20th. Their visit will include a meeting at the White House with President Obama and Vice President Biden, and a visit to Mount Vernon, home of George Washington. You can read more about the visit at their official site. [Clarence House]

20 February 2015

We've reached the point in winter - at least in my neck of the woods - when I begin to lose all hope of ever being warm again. Can humans hibernate? I'm investigating. Until then, we indulge in another edition of the Royal Coats of the Week. It's the only logical thing to do.

Here's Letizia's entry, a chic white number. This is a very luxurious look, and I'm all for it. (I know some of you are going to say it looks like a bathrobe, but hel-lo people, what is more luxurious than that?! More excuses to wear bathrobes in public, that's what we need.) Tangential to today's topic, but I will also show you the outfit underneath the robe coat:

From She of Many Coats, Kate, comes this Max Mara option, the same model seen previously on Princess Eugenie. Liked it then, liked it now, can't go wrong with a winter white. Underneath (below) she sported a boat print dress from Alice Temperley - a bit literal for a nautical engagement, I think, but fades into a generic print from a distance.

19 February 2015

First, of course, is the design. Pearl tiaras are often more diamond heavy than pearl heavy, but the design of this coronet-like piece relies on small pearls to outline the engraved gold base and the triangular and fan motifs above it, with small diamonds just as accents. It was made around 1829 in Paris, making it one of the older tiaras still in existence today - but adding another point in the unusual column, it looks mostly the same today as it did back then. Many diadems dating back that far have been remodeled heavily over time, but this one has only been modified to add an extension piece at the back.

Stéphanie

The tiara belonged to the adopted daughter of Napoleon, Stéphanie de Beauharnais (1789-1860). Stéphanie married the Grand Duke of Baden, and she was pictured wearing the tiara (above). The tiara made its way to the Belgian royal family, who are related to Stéphanie courtesy of her granddaughter Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Countess of Flanders (1845-1912), and it eventually ended up in the possession of Princess Marie José of Belgium (1906-2001), daughter of King Albert I and granddaughter of the aforementioned Countess of Flanders. (It should be noted that some references to this tiara tie it back to Empress Joséphine, Napoleon's first wife, who died prior to the reported approximate creation date of the piece, and some paths of ownership tie it to Empress Charlotte of Mexico, born a Belgian princess, at some point.)

Marie José

The tiara's main modification came in 1924, when the band was extended at the back so that Princess Marie José could wear it in the fashionable style across the forehead to her first court ball. In 1930, the princess married the future King Umberto II of Italy. The tiara stayed in Queen Marie José's possession until her death in 2001, when it passed to her daughter, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy. It was auctioned at Christie's in 2007 (as were other pieces from the late queen's jewel collection, including the Empress Joséphine Tiara), and it sold for $85,190. Adding another layer to the rarity of the tiara's tale, it did not disapper into a private collection but was bought by the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. They purchased the tiara because of its link to the history of Mannheim Palace, which was the home of Stéphanie de Beauharnais. It is now part of the museum collection at the impressive Baroque palace.

18 February 2015

The Duchess of Cornwall, along with the Prince of Wales, attended the Royal Film Performance of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last night.

Here I thought she might be done with mega ruby breastplates necklaces, seeing as the last one she wore caused a bit of a fuss. But nooooope, she's got another up her sleeve. Here's the necklace worn previously:

The 2007 appearance featured a necklace that was among three sets of jewels picked up by Camilla during a tour of Saudi Arabia in 2006 (from various members of the vast and super rich ruling family; necklaces previously covered here or here). From afar, you might wonder if the necklace from last night was a remodel of the earlier version, but since the stones are different shapes and sizes, they are two different pieces. Talk about building a jewelry vault for yourself, my oh my.

Last night's was a suite of pear-shaped rubies in tiers with garlands of diamonds, a necklace accompanied by matching long earrings and also a ruby and diamond bracelet, which you can just see peeking out from the sleeve of her rich velvet gown. The whole set looks like another Middle Eastern gift to me; Camilla's official gift list for 2013 included a parure (no further details, alas) from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and I wondered if this might be the one, worn as a tribute to the recently deceased king. But that's just speculation on my part. Whatever its origins, I'm so glad they gave it to Cams. I mean, who else could pull this off?

Shout out to Chaz's getup last night, too. Takes a dapper man to make a simple tux worthy of notice in the face of such gem power, but there he is with his fancy cuffs and his checked pocket square, and I can't help but take notice. Nicely done as always.

I'm all about this dress, man. The color blocking adds some fun shading and curve, and the slight flip of the skirt in movement and keyhole at the neckline give a bit of a feminine twist to this take on Letizia's typical shift dress.

The Carolina Herrera dress, worn by Letizia with Magrit shoes and a Uterqüe clutch

And with that, I'll go ahead and renew my official request: moooooore of this, pretty please.

16 February 2015

Honestly, it's a little sad how happy I am just to see a hat with a crown and a brim on display. Such a simple thing, yet so often refreshing in a world of fascinators and other such things. So my sincere thanks to the Belgian royal family for a better than average showing last week:

I don't know if Queen Mathilde has been watching as much Downton Abbey or Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries as I have, but her cloche is right on point and extremely cute. We have a brimless nod to Princess Margaretha and
her classic pillbox, just behind Mathilde above, and Princess Claire tossed in a navy number. I can't even be mad at Princess Astrid's pairing of her large black hat with a coat in...khaki mustard? I don't even know.

Just a crown and a brim, and I'm good to go. (Until there's one of those that I don't care for, in which case never mind.) Anyway, back to the cloche: sooo much potential for an unflattering look with that style, but this gets a well played from me. For a gallery from this event, click here.

15 February 2015

And to balance out the extravagance, we'll start today's tidbits with an Anne Update:

--The Princess Royal spent some time in uniform this week, which is how you know that all is right in the world. She handled a Buckingham Palace investiture, including bestowing a damehood on fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, and made a naval visit. In uniform with her signature sport shades and a hard hat = the ultimate Anne experience. [BBC, Royal Navy Facebook]

--And finally, have some more wine, why not: Here's a video ofPrince Felix of Luxembourg showing off the wines at the vineyard he and Princess Claire run in France, Château des Crostes. [Video in French. Azur TV, via Luxarazzi]

12 February 2015

Last night it was time for a representation dinner in Sweden. I've come to realize that these are the tiara events most likely to produce, uh, mixed results. Yeah, let's go with that. (You're going to want to see the gallery at this link, by the way.)

Queen Silvia passes muster in a gold dress and the Connaught Tiara. Sofia Hellqvist did okay for herself in black, but - hang on, let me check - nope, I'm still worn out on black lace dresses from last year. Just behind her in the picture below, you can spot Princess Christina. She was wearing the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik again, so the intrigue around its ownership continues.

A lavender-clad Princess Madeleine wore her 18th birthday tiara, the Swedish Aquamarine Bandeau, in a low riding position, an example to
one and all of why these things get labeled Cyclops
tiaras. Isn't that ever so helpful of her? (I don't begrudge her wanting to wear a light tiara or doing something different, but...yeesh.) Oh well. Points added for the dress and the earrings, which are great.

It was down to Crown Princess Victoria to give me a bit of hope for tiara events to come. The outfit was basic, a repeated pastel pink and purple Escada dress
she first wore at the ball after Albert and Charlene's wedding in 2011
and the Six Button Tiara, but she also wore the earrings, brooch, and bracelet from the Cameo parure. With this particular outfit, it makes for an incredibly random pairing - I mean, the Cameo stuff
needs an outfit with nods to its colors or to the intricacy of its
design and this feels like it was laundry day in the gown closet and nothing else was left - but for someone (ME) that hopes to see her in the Cameo Tiara again, I'm just glad to see her use what she can.

11 February 2015

To celebrate the joint 50th birthdays of the Earl and Countess of Wessex (his was last March, hers in January), the Queen held a reception at Buckingham Palace last night for representatives from the couple's many patronages and affiliations. The Duke of York was present too, and he shared the family photo above on his Facebook page. Cute, right?

If you're part of the reason the event is being thrown, you might as well turn up looking fab-u-lous, and Sophie was all over it in a chic black dress from Victoria Beckham's label. (The Queen wore one of her favorite evening suits, which she paired as usual with her favorite Aquamarine Clip Brooches from Boucheron.) (Edward wore a suit.)

The dress is a simple LBD, ripe for a little jeweled embellishment, and Beckham has very kindly taken care of that by adding a "hand-embroidered wave shaped detail that includes crystals, metallic beads and metal mesh, all sewn onto a silk organza panel and inset into the left shoulder." It wraps over the top of the shoulder, adding a little interest to the back as well.

Victoria Beckham

I'm not always a fan of built-in jewels, but this is perfect. The Countess kept the rest of her accessories to a minimum, also a good choice. The dress was previously worn on the red carpet by model Arizona Muse, who added a necklace which was a little unneeded:

One mini/maxi skirt combo and a pair of accent shoes does not a solid connection make, in my opinion, but I'm up for the reaching challenge. And who wins the eternal Who wore it best? game? If you're going to do this skirt thing, you might as well do it at the Grammys and you might as well do it big time with the high contrast between the two skirt levels, so I'd call Taylor for the win there. On the other hand, Kate wins the shoe competition, if only for her significantly less chunky straps. Nobody's completely selling me on the overskirt as a fashion statement, but maybe if we mashed them up, we could get somewhere. Et toi?

Despite my ballet disappointments, I rather like this on Mathilde. Feathers are always good for a giggle, but this is a nice neckline for her and the intricate updos she favors. Also, her chosen color is the perfect reason to bust out these earrings:

--While others were working on their spelling, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were hosting diplomats and Queen Mathilde was making sure that you'll never miss her in the photo. [@Monarchie_Be Twitter]

06 February 2015

You know how I love a royal wedding on a Friday. This week, I'm in the mood for the wedding of Willem-Alexander and Máxima, and I'm dragging you down the procrastination black hole with me. I just love this one! It's got one of my favorite wedding gowns, a lot of emotion, and a whole lot more laughter than your average royal wedding. The big event went down on 2-2-2002, and we've covered it a few times in the past: the Valentino couture dress,the guests, the pre-wedding guests. I've shared video from the nuptials but I don't think we've had an all out re-watching extravaganza before, so let's do this thing (key parts embedded below, with links to extras):

5. The religious wedding. If you've only got time to watch one video, make it this one: the overhead view at the beginning is stunning, and the gorgeous tango (Adiós Nonino) performed in honor of the bride's Argentine roots is all the more touching when you recall that her parents were not in attendance.